Tuesday, June 9, 2015

It’s a long discussed topic, that can really ruin an afternoon in your Clan Chat – should X-Bows be set to ground only mode, or to ground & air mode? Let’s start at the very bottom, and you know what that means: Math.

The (mathematic) truth of the X-Bow

Let’s take the raw damage of the X-Bow, which at level 3, is exactly same as what an Archer Tower level 11 does (75 DPS). The only advantage the X-Bow offers is a great range of 14 tiles when it’s set to ground mode, and the Archer Tower is only ranges 10 tiles. I can make this post short by saying if you set the X-Bow to Air & Ground Mode, it will only have a range of 11 tiles,reducing it to nothing more than an Archer Tower. Even worse, you have to pay to reload it! Its more complicated than that though, so let me try to bring a little more light onto this discussion.

Why not only setting the X-Bow to ground mode

Despite the numbers I gave you in the last passage, setting the xbow to ground mode isn’t the end-all solution for every case, so here’s what else you should consider:

Average Air Damage: How are your Air Defenses? If they are Level 5 or below, you’ll probably get lots of Ballooning attacks and then you need the additional DPS against them.

Layout Structure: How is your general area covered? Do you have problems with a lot of BARCH attacks that actually destroy your base for 50% or more? You may need the ground mode X-Bows to fight them. This will probably mean you need to put them off center of your base. It’s hard to give a general rule, so you should try both options. You should always check your Defense Log replays as what troop setup is attacking your base most often (BARCH, Balloons, Giant/Healer combos, etc.), because this tells you what setup your base looks weak to (or what is being most commonly used at your trophy level).

Balancing your Damage: If you have all 3 X-Bows in your base and your Air Defenses are properly upgraded, you can switch to 2 Ground Mode and 1 Air & Ground Mode.

Conclusion for the different X-Bow modes

You see that the Air & Ground mode might be turning your X-Bows into something like an expensive Archer Tower, but you can also use it to balance your damage. Maybe you can use some of these arguments when someone says that the Air & Ground mode is just a waste of an X-Bow.

Do you have some additional thoughts on this topic? Please share with all of us in the comments.